{
 "slug": "top-light",
 "name": "Top light",
 "category": "light",
 "group": "Contrast",
 "media": [
  "image",
  "video"
 ],
 "checked": "2026-11-13",
 "effect": "Light from straight above: eyes sink into shadow, isolated and stark.",
 "use_when": "Interrogations, lonely figures under a lamp, boxing, a single product on a table.",
 "phrase": "one lamp directly above her head, her eye sockets in shadow, a pool of light on the floor around her",
 "pitfalls": [
  {
   "text": "A style word for light does nothing. Name the source, where it sits against the person, and what fills the shadow side.",
   "evidence": "measured",
   "source": "Director Chair field notes on image prompting"
  },
  {
   "text": "Eyes go dark under top light; add a faint bounce from below if the eyes must read.",
   "evidence": "film-craft",
   "source": "General film vocabulary, as also used in ShotDeck's filters"
  }
 ],
 "per_model": [],
 "external_refs": [
  {
   "site": "shotdeck",
   "url": "https://shotdeck.com/",
   "what": "real film examples of this lighting (paid, link only)"
  },
  {
   "site": "flim",
   "url": "https://flim.ai/",
   "what": "film, ad and music-video stills of this lighting (free tier, link only)"
  }
 ],
 "licensed": [],
 "site_names": [],
 "related": [
  "high-noon",
  "low-key-light",
  "practical-light"
 ],
 "rights": "own-work",
 "evidence": "film-craft",
 "source": {
  "url": null,
  "note": "Own words; the term from general film vocabulary, as also used in ShotDeck's filters"
 },
 "body": "",
 "shown_with": null,
 "url": "https://directorchair.ai/light/top-light",
 "markdown": "https://directorchair.ai/light/top-light.md",
 "prompts": {
  "nano-banana-pro": "[your subject] in [your setting]. One lamp directly above the subject's head, the subject's eye sockets in shadow, a pool of light on the floor around the subject.",
  "nano-banana-2": "[your subject] in [your setting]. One lamp directly above the subject's head, the subject's eye sockets in shadow, a pool of light on the floor around the subject.",
  "gpt-image": "A photograph of [your subject] in [your setting].\nDetails: one lamp directly above the subject's head, the subject's eye sockets in shadow, a pool of light on the floor around the subject\nExclusions: no extra text, no watermark, no logo.",
  "seedream-5": "[your subject] in [your setting]. One lamp directly above the subject's head, the subject's eye sockets in shadow, a pool of light on the floor around the subject.",
  "seedance-2.5": "Scene: [your subject] in [your setting].\nShot 1 (0:00 to 0:05): one continuous shot\nLight: one lamp directly above the subject's head, the subject's eye sockets in shadow, a pool of light on the floor around the subject",
  "seedance-2.0": "Scene: [your subject] in [your setting].\nShot 1: one continuous shot\nLight: one lamp directly above the subject's head, the subject's eye sockets in shadow, a pool of light on the floor around the subject",
  "kling-3": "[your subject]. The scene is [your setting]. One lamp directly above the subject's head, the subject's eye sockets in shadow, a pool of light on the floor around the subject.",
  "veo-3.1": "[your subject] in [your setting]. Framing and subject stay as in the start image. One lamp directly above the subject's head, the subject's eye sockets in shadow, a pool of light on the floor around the subject."
 },
 "licence": {
  "code": "MIT",
  "text": "CC BY 4.0",
  "third_party": "Clips and card texts inside a \"licensed\" block belong to their makers and are shown with permission and credit."
 }
}